12.22.2008

A Recipe for You And One for Me (Please)...

I realize we haven’t even hit Christmas eve yet, but I’m in menu planning overdrive…I think it would be fun to do a family fondue party on New Year’s eve, but having never made it before and suspecting that it can easily turn into a sad greasy mess, I’m a smidge intimidated.

Anyone have good (relatively idiot proof) fondue recipes to share?? (one for cheese and one for chocolate, which I suspect is far easier than cheese, no?)

And now for you…the hearts of palm salad. My foodie friend Julie passed this recipe on and I make it All. The. Time. It’s really awesome.

2 heads of butter lettuce

¼ cup chopped parsley

1 cup of walnuts tossed in butter and brown sugar, lightly toasted and sprinkled with salt

1 jar of hearts of palm, sliced

½ lb of blue cheese or sweet gorgonzola

Vinaigrette dressing:

1 cup walnut oil

½ cup chardonnay vinegar

1 tsp. sugar (or more, to taste)

1 shallot finely minced

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all of the dressing ingredients together (sometimes I mix in the blender to emulsify a bit) and toss the lettuce with it first then layer the other ingredients on top.

25 comments:

I have a cheese fondue recipe for you. It's VERY easy. My husband makes it better than I do because he will sit and stir FOREVER to make the cheese lumps go away.

Mix 2 tbsp margarine and 2 tbsp flour and allow to thicken. Add 1 can chicken broth. Allow to thicken again (ours never really "thickens" like the recipe says, so we just make sure it's well mixed.) Add 8 oz cubed cream cheese and 8 oz cubed velvetta cheese. Stir until creamy. Ours bubbles and the trick is stirring it constantly so it doesn't burn to the bottom of the fondue pot. This makes enough for 4 hungry adults, but I'd also say that we definitely overeat when we make it! We serve ours with chunks of bread, roast beef, carrots, little smokies, and whatever else strikes our fancy.

J, we do fondue every NYE for 20 friends. Some years we buy the individual cheeses, shred it all, etc. But most years, we just buy the fondue packets - at Trader Joe's and most grocery chains this time of year. They come from Switzerland. We add a little white wine and garlic but that's it. Serve with a salad - nothing could be easier. Just remember to stir in one direction (according to my hubby's swiss mom) and if you drop a piece of bread in the bowl, you have to sing!

We do a fondue every new years eve as a family and it's amazing! We usually have cheese, always some kind of swiss cheese, it's stringy and so full of rich buttery flavours. We serve it with bread and veggies, and then we have the chocolate one for dessert with fruit, strawberries and chunks of banana! It's great because it's kind of like a buffet, you have some, go have some fun, and then come back for more! It's a great tradition

OK, this is the recipe for you, promise. Super easy, traditional cheese fondue: Swiss Fondue from Gourmet 1991. Search for it on www.epicurious.com. For some reason I am having trouble inserting the link here. We are thinking of doing fondue for New Year's too!

I did fondue last New Years and it was so much fun! I don't have the book in front of me but they sell as special fondue book in William Sonoma--the cheese recipe that they says to pair with asparagus is amazing! Oh, you are making me so incredibly hungry for some right now!

Ha! My Swiss mother-in-law just made us an enormous pot of fondue last night. I am still reeling from it. She makes hers with white wine & garlic. I'll look into a recipe. Don't know about cheese mix availability in the states though. Cheese is everywhere in abundance here ; )

Williams Sonoma has a great fondue recipe...check it out on their site. I think its titled something like "Classic Cheese Fondue".

We enjoyed a fondue dinner on Christmas Eve...a tradition in my husband's family. We used Emmentaler, and Gruyere I believe. You'll also need white wine (we used a dealcoholized version but it tastes just about the same). This is the version the French and Swiss use...be wary of any "American" versions with ingredients other than these classics. Also, use an electric fondue pot...it's a lot easier. We cubed artisan country French bread...and it was outstanding. I hope you enjoy a wonderful meal. Fondue is such a great social meal!